


I Didn't Think You'd Answer...But I'm So Glad You Did

by miss-minnelli (sherlollyshipperalltheway)



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-02
Updated: 2016-02-01
Packaged: 2018-05-17 18:40:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5881429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sherlollyshipperalltheway/pseuds/miss-minnelli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spencer calls Austin after a heated break-up and months apart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 6:25

**Author's Note:**

> I basically ship anything that flirts, so naturally, the episode "52 Pickup", where Reid flirts with the bartender, made me want the two of them to get together. I started this fic back when I was watching season 4 a few weeks ago (I know I'm totally a noob) and i finished it today. I was in need of some angst and so that's what I wrote.

It had been four months since Austin walked out. The whole relationship had been a blur. Spencer remembered the first month as a whirlwind of plane rides on the weekends and three hour long phone calls between cases.

A few months later, she had gotten a job in the D.C area and they’d decided to move in together in Spencer’s house. The magic had started to fade pretty quickly when they had to deal with each other’s stuff (both physical and mental baggage), and it became apparent how often Spencer was gone. When he did come home, he was exhausted and emotionally scarred and only wanted to sleep. At first, when he was away on a case he texted Austin every few hours, but after a few months they practically never spoke when he was gone. At about month five, whenever they did speak it was about how she wanted to be around him and do things together, and he was torn apart because that’s also what he wanted, but he was so stressed out about work that that’s never what came out during their arguments.

Their relationship had ended brutally and there were tears from both parties. They hadn’t spoken since she had moved her stuff out and gotten a different apartment. Even then, their only goodbye had been a sad wave from the window. He had picked up the phone on a few different occasions, planning to call her, but he had backed out before pressing “talk” each time. But today, he had this feeling that he really needed to talk to her. 

The team wasn’t on a case, so the day was filled with paperwork and seemed to go on forever. Finally, he was in the elevator to leave work and he practically sprinted to the subway. JJ and Prentiss gave him weird looks as he speed-walked away from the building, but he waved them off, clutching his cell phone and formulating what he was going to say. He knew that he would get her voicemail if he called around 6:25 because she was waitressing downtown in the evenings along with her internship during the day, and that was a busy time at her restaurant. 

When he got home, he wrote out a practically illegible script that he planned to repeat word-for-word on the phone.   

He dialed her number from memory and pressed “talk.” The phone rang once and then a second time. This caught Spencer off guard because Austin always turned off her phone during work and if a phone was going straight to voicemail it usually only rang one time. He realized that he hadn’t even considered the possibility that she might pick up. And then, “Hello?”

“Uh…Hey…I uh, didn’t think you’d answer.” He looked down at his notes, and somehow everything he had written seemed ridiculous now that he’d heard her voice. “I just, um. Oh! This is Spencer, by the way. Just in case you…”

“I know, Spence.” He thought her voice sounded gentler. Of course the last time he’d heard it they’d been crying and screaming. She was silent and he realized she was waiting for him to say something. 

He cleared his throat. “I guess I just figured you’d be at work,” he said, and then mentally punched himself.

She coughed, almost like she was covering a laugh. “Well, our shifts got switched around. You know, seniority gets you Friday nights off,” she joked. There was another long pause and then her voice was serious again. “Why are you calling Spencer?”

Before he could stop himself, he blurted out, “Did you move on?” Just then, he heard a loud clatter in the background and several people laughing.


	2. Not Yet

“Um, Spencer, this isn’t really the best time. I’ve got company.” Austin sounded slightly guilty but also impatient. 

Spencer now wholeheartedly regretted making this phone call. “Okay, I’m sorry. I should have assumed you found someone new. You deserve to be happy. Sorry for bothering you.” He was about to hang up when he heard Austin make a very loud noise that almost sounded like she was gagging. “Are you alright?” he cried helplessly over the phone. 

There was a long pause and a clatter of footsteps that suggested she was leaving her apartment. Then, finally she spoke. “Spencer, I’m not ready for this conversation right now. And for the record the company is my sister, her husband, and their kids. If I’m on the phone for too long they’re going to ask questions because my sister knows I’m still hurting, and my sister made me promise I wouldn’t call you.” She took a breath and then spoke more quietly. “No, of course I haven’t moved on to someone new, but I have moved on from shouting matches every other night and crying myself to sleep when you left for work in the middle of a fight. God, Spencer. I loved you so much. But you made it so damn hard. Look, why are you really calling Spence?”

He shivered when he called him by his nickname. No one had called him that since they’d broken up. “I, I called to tell you I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what happened. I’m sorry for all the late nights and for not calling more when I was on a case. I wish I had just taken the time, and then maybe none of this would have happened.” He wiped a tear from his eye before it fell. “But most of all, I’m sorry that I didn’t fight harder to keep you in my life. I let you go, and that is my biggest regret.”

“Well, shit.” she replied slowly. “What am I supposed to say to that?”

“Um, I, uh,” he tried, “you could say that it’s okay. That you still love me. Because I still love you, Austin. I haven’t stopped thinking about you. We had to go to Austin, Texas last week, and my heart broke a little each time someone said the city’s name, because a little part of me hoped they were talking about you. Look, I messed up really bad. Please just tell me there’s something I can do to fix this.”

Austin didn’t say anything for a minute and a half, but Spencer waited patiently. Finally, she said, “It wasn’t just you, Spence. I yelled too. And I didn’t listen enough either. I wanted you to be around all the time, but I wouldn’t take into consideration how much you love your job. I guess I didn’t really know how to be alone. Hah. Look where I am now. Living alone above a Korean restaurant, somehow managing to pay my rent. Oh, fuck. It’s raining. I have to go Spencer, but uh, maybe it’d be okay if you called me sometime. Again, I mean.”

“Wait, before you go,” said Spencer urgently, “are we okay?”

He could hear Austin’s tears in her voice as she said, “Not yet, Spence, but maybe we can be. I want us to be. But I’m still angry. I’m angry at you, and I’m angry at myself.”

Spencer’s voice was hoarse now as well, “Please don’t be angry at yourself. You don’t deserve that. And take as long as you need to forgive me. I can wait, Austin.”

“Goodbye, Spence,” she said, and then she hung up. 

He cleared his throat and tried to stand up, but his legs were weak with emotion. He settled with curling his legs up on the couch and letting the tears fall down his cheeks, one for each of the things he regretted about their breakup.

About half an hour passed (Spencer supposed he could have counted exactly how long it was, but what did it matter?), and he was still huddled on the sofa with a puddle of tears on his collar, when the doorbell rang followed by someone pounding on the door. He got up and opened the door to see Austin standing there, soaking wet. “I don’t know what I’m doing here…”


	3. Anything

He couldn’t tell if she was still crying, because of the rain falling over her face, but he didn’t wait long enough to figure it out before stepping out into the rain and kissing her. The kiss was a conversation between the two. It was Spencer’s way of apologizing again, for the way he let her go without saying goodbye, and for forgetting to text her goodnight before he fell asleep, but the way Austin was practically biting his tongue showed him that she was still angry, and that one kiss wasn’t going to fix their problems. They kissed and cried, and Spencer let his clothes get completely wet, just like Austin’s, his hair sticking to both of the their faces.

When Austin finally stepped back, she was dizzy with emotion, and Spencer put his hands on her shoulders to keep her steady. “What about your sister?” he asked breathlessly, and then he remembered how wet they both were. 

As he led her into the house, she giggled a little. “I told her that she could take home all of my wine, and she said that was a fair deal. It’s really fine. We have a movie night with the kids every two weeks.”

Spencer nodded, trying not to visibly shiver. “Hang on, let me get you something to change into,” he said, and disappeared into his room for a moment. 

When he got back, he handed her a t-shirt and a pair of leggings that she immediately recognized. “These are mine! I’ve been looking for these…” she trailed off and began to cry again. 

“Austin I’m sorry! I should have given them back to you when you moved out, but I...I just couldn’t. I had to have...I couldn’t let go. If I did, it meant you were really gone for good. And I really couldn’t bear th--”

She kissed him again, and this time, there was no anger behind her movements. She kissed him with forgiveness, and he understood that the action of keeping her clothes for all these months, and not moving on, was all the proof she needed that coming to his house was the right choice. 

Spencer stopped the kiss after a few minutes and said, “This is really hot and everything, but I am very cold right now, so I’ve got to go change. And then can we talk?”

Austin smiled nervously, nodded, and took her dry clothes to the bathroom to change.

In his room, Spencer peeled off his damp clothes and put on dry ones. Then, before going back out to the living room, he sat down on his bed for a moment. This evening had gone much better than he could have ever imagined, and he didn’t want to make her run away again by saying the wrong thing. He didn’t know if she wanted to jump right back in where they left off, or start over. Should he ask her out on a date? 

His stomach growled, answering one of his questions: they definitely needed to grab some dinner. Spencer left his room and found Austin sitting on his couch fiddling with his glasses, which he had left on the coffee table. “I missed these,” she said with a small smile. 

Spencer opened his mouth to suggest they go get something to eat, but Austin spoke again before he could. “I’m so scared Spencer.” Her smile was gone and was replaced with a look of fear. “We messed this up so badly last time. What if it happens again? I can’t go through this pain again. How do I know we’re going to work this time?”

“I guess...I guess you can’t know for sure, Austin, but I can promise you that I intend to fix every mistake I made, and talk to you about anything that’s troubling me. I’m willing to take the chance that something goes wrong, because I firmly believe that we can fix it. We’ve gotten this far, haven’t we?”

“Yeah,” she said quietly. Then, as if you had just made a decision, she said it louder. “Yeah! I’m in, Spencer. I believe in us.” She paused again, and stood up in front of Spencer. “Promise me one thing, Spence.”

“Anything.”

“Never leave without saying goodbye. No matter what. No matter if we’re fighting, or if you’re in a hurry. Always tell me goodbye, and that you’ll be back. Okay?” she asked, fighting back tears.”

Spencer drew her into a big hug and said, “I promise. I promise I will always say goodbye, and I promise I will always come back.” 

They continued to have a sweet and delicate hug, until Spencer’s stomach growled again. Austin laughed into his shoulder. “We should really get you something to eat. All this crying has made you hungry.”

He pulled back so that he wasn’t talking into her hair. “Well, would you like to go on a late dinner date with me, Austin?” he asked, with a romantic glimmer in his eyes. 

As a response, Austin yanked on his arm and led him out the door. “I missed you, you big sap.” 

He smiled and let her drag him to the his car. Looking back, later, he realized that that was the exact moment he decided he was going to marry her. Not yet, of course. But someday. He was never letting her go again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know if you enjoyed!


End file.
